Which hymnal? In this corner . . .
  • Heath
    Posts: 966
    (Re-posting from another thread, in the hopes of getting some discussion . . . )

    Now that many of us have had the opportunity of collecting all 3 of these fine hymnals, I'd like to hear some more thoughts about each, as I think we'll be purchasing one of the 3 in the next year or two. My initial thoughts after wading through each a few times:

    --Adoremus: Order of Mass section is great, Mass settings are fine, Hymns are all strong, though still a bit skimpy; few additions that are great fun, but completely useless, IMO (e.g. metrical English Dies Irae; very neat, but I doubt any parish would use it); nice typesetting

    --St. Michael's: Same Order of Mass as Adoremus (again, excellent!), nice Mass settings, best hymnal section of them all (traditional language, couldn't think of hardly any hymns that I noticed missing), best one for a "mixed" parish that can only afford one hymnal (includes some "contemporary" StLJesuits/Haugen/Haas stuff, plenty of spanish selections). Nice typesetting as well, though maybe not as great as AH.

    --VII Hymnal: Has the strongest strengths and the weakest weaknesses of all three, if that makes sense . . . beautiful artwork (though I'm not smitten with the cover) throughout, readings (I don't mind them in there) and Chab. Psalms (which I use consistently) included, Sturdy hymns for the most part. Downsides: A bit cluttered (jampacked with stuff), plenty of hymns that St. Michael has that I wish VII did, and many hymns that a) I've never heard of (fair enough), and b) I probably wouldn't use.

    The ancillary materials could be discussed as well; I don't have the choral St. Michael yet (I don't think it's ready), and I don't think VII will have a choir version hardbound.

    Any other thoughts?
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    Haven't seen St. Michael yet: I'm waiting until the choral edition is out before buying one. Between the Adoremus and the V2, I'd go with the Adoremus, as I think that its less complicated format is more user-friendly than the V2.

    I do disagree with Heath, though, about the Adoremus' typesetting. CMAA publications have much more attractive chant engraving, and the modern-notation pieces in the Adoremus (choir edition) often have stems pointing the wrong way. But I'll concede that the stems don't matter much, since most parishes would put the unison edition in the pews.
  • YellowRoseofTexasYellowRoseofTexas
    Posts: 91
    I haven't used the St. Michael, but I've used the old edition Adoremus and am using the V2.

    Adoremus and V2 are skimpier on hymns - particularly Advent and Christmas - than I'd like, given that most congregations aren't ready to go to full Propers [yet. that's what we're here for, right?].

    Things I haven't liked about the V2: often I would like to be able to have my choir do a traditional Latin piece and have the congregation read along with the translation, but it's not in the V2 because it was assumed the congregation wouldn't need it. (I can't think of an example at the moment. Sorry...) Also, maybe this is just me, but I feel like the V2 often uses obscure variants of hymns and hymn tunes. For example - "The Glory of These Forty Days" uses a variant of the tune that I don't think any other modern publisher uses; and for Advent I would have liked to have "Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus" set to the Stuttgart tune (I mean, there are 3-4 other hymns set to Stuttgart - why not that one?).

    I really like (for my parish) that there are some English versions of things like "In Paradisum," and "Pange Lingua" (although, again, why couldn't it be set to the traditional tune?)

    However, I really like that the V2 is practically all available online. I also really love the organ accompaniment book (for the most part) since it gets the words out of your way and has an awesome spiral binding, and NO PAGE TURNS! That was a definite disadvantage to the Adoremus - don't know if it's been rectified.

    I've also preferred the English Mass settings in the V2 to the ones in Adoremus, which tended (at least previously) to be much less chant-like; they had unpredictable melodies and weird harmonies.
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    Hello, just a quick note if I may (I don't want to throw of the thread):

    We do include translations of about 30 Latin Motets (Panis Angelicus, Tantum Ergo, etc.) on page 53, and I think we are the only hymnal to do this.

    "The Glory of These Forty Days" variant is included in the organ harmonizations and also the SATB, along with the more popular tune.

    The same is true of "Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus" — Stuttgart is also given in the organ harmonizations and SATB books.

    Without going into the details, the editor's preferences certainly came into play. However, I don't think it would be too difficult to sing those two hymns in the traditional way, as well (that was our hope, at least). . . . certainly not as hard as the New English Hymnal, which does not set ANY of the texts to melodies.

    But, as always, others will disagree — it is very hard to please everyone perfectly. (not kidding!)
  • YellowRoseofTexasYellowRoseofTexas
    Posts: 91
    JMO,

    I do know that and I appreciate it - but it's not in the hymnal itself, and the people at this parish like being able to read the music we're using. That's what I meant. Thank you, though.
    Thanked by 1Ragueneau
  • Heath
    Posts: 966
    Chonak, I perused the melody edition of Adoremus, and the typesetting seemed nice and large enough. Thanks for pointing out the deficiencies, though.
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